The travelers land on an island on the planet Marinus, where the sand is glass and the sea is acid.  The TARDIS is captured by Arbitan, Keeper of the Conscience of Marinus, a machine that controls the planet, preventing crime.  But four of the five keys that make it function are lost.  The Doctor and his companions use watch-shaped time dials to go to some strange places in search of them: the city of Morphoton, ruled by Giant Brains who keep its population enslaved; a jungle whose flora's evolution has been accelerated by the old scientist Darius; an icebound wilderness; and finally the city of Millenius where Ian is framed for murder.  On their return they find Arbitan dead, murdered by Yartek, leader of the Voord, who now control the island.  Ian is forced to hand over the four hard-won keys, but one is fake - which causes the machine to explode, blowing itself and the Voord to pieces and freeing the inhabitants of Marinus from its domination. 



The Doctor:  William Hartnell
Ian Chesterton: William Russell
Barbara Wright: Jacqueline Hill
Susan Foreman: Carole Ann Ford

Guest Appearances:
Arbitan: George Couloris
Voord: Martin Cort, Peter Stenson, Gordon Wales
Altos: Robin Phillips
Sabetha: Katharine Schofield
Voice Of Morpho: Heron Carvic
Darrius:  Edmund Warwick
Vasor: Francis De Wolff
Larn: Michael Allaby
Tarron:  Henley Thomas
Senior Judge: Raf De La Torre
Kala:  Fiona Walker
Aydan:  Martin Cort
Eyesen:  Donald Pickering
Yartek:  Stephen Dartnell
Eprin:  Dougie Dean
Judge: Alan James

Producer: Verity Lambert
Assistant Producer: Mervyn Pinfield
Script Editor: David Whitaker
Writer: Terry Nation
Director: John Gorrie
Designer: Raymond P. Cusick
Costume: Daphne Dare
Make up: Jill Summers
Music: Norman Kay

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Novelized as "Dr Who and the Keys of Marinus" by Philip Hinchcliffe (0 426 20125 6) first published by W.H. Allen (now Virgin Publishing Ltd.) in 1980 with cover by David McAllister.  Target library number 38.

Released as "The Keys of Marinus" in UK, March 1999 and Australia and New Zealand (BBC catalogue #6671). Release in US and Canada, July 1999 (CBS/FOX catalogue #14263) in episodic format, with photomontage cover.

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Terry Nation wrote this story to replace his earlier tale, "The Red Fort" (set during the Indian mutiny), which was abandoned when the series' plans changed.
William Hartnell did not appear in the episodes "The Screaming Jungle" and "The Snows of Terror" as he was on holiday during the taping of these episodes.

All episodes exist on 16mm telerecordings. "Sentence of Death" was held by the BBC's Film & Video Tape Library when audited in 1978; negative film prints of all six episodes were recovered from BBC Enterprises circa 1978.

Ealing filming. (dates unknown)
Studio recording in Lime Grove D. (20, 27 March; 4, 10, 17, 24 April 1964)

Episode 1 - You can spot-the-stagehand when one of the Voord falls through the hidden panel and the trick wall spins around.
Episode 6 - One of the Voord comes into the control chamber, trips on the bottom edge of the door, and stumbles over to Yartek.
Episode ? - Just after Barbara is taken inside the city, on the next shot you can see a stagehand dart behind Ian.
Episode ? - As Susan falls into the pyramid, a stagehand can be seen venturing on screen before the camera cuts away.
Episode ? - Ian goes to a lot of trouble miming to show the extent of the force-field around the TARDIS, but then Susan ruins it all by casually walking in front of him and hence straight through the "barrier".
Episode ? - Barbara is only seconds ahead of the Doctor and company when arriving at Morphoton, but somehow she gets the chance to meet Altos and have a nice chat about fashion before the others arrive.
Episode ? - Considering the travel dial is his only link back to the TARDIS, Ian seems a bit too eager to swap it for a piece of fur from Vasor.